A PLAN is underway to clear the infamous 'superdump' which blighted south Oxford for 30 years, and turn it into a playground.

New pictures show how the £100,000 scheme to tidy up the site at Redbridge Hollow, off Old Abingdon Road, is progressing.

The site, close to the recycling centre and at the entrance to a travellers site, was once an unwelcome mountain of mattresses with pockets of building and household waste. But in September, Oxfordshire County Council said it was paying a company £65,000 to shift the rubbish.

The £35,000 play area, which will be built there in an effort to stop any further dumping, will soon be complete.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “A playground is being built on the empty area of land at the entrance to the site as previously planned.

“The waste clearance went well last month. Following some ground preparation work done at the beginning of November, the playground installation is taking place this week.

“There will be some further minor finishing work over the next few weeks, such as turfing the area around the playground.”

The most recent fly-tipping spree at the site is thought to have started in September 2016 – but the county council said it had no idea who the tippers were.

Just one person has ever been fined for dumping rubbish there.

County councillor Bob Johnston welcomed the work. He said: “There’s now a much better connection between the county council and Vale of White Horse council officers. That is what’s important.

“The dump was enormous. There must have been hundreds of tonnes of stuff there.

“It was done so people would avoid landfill tax. It was £66 a tonne and it’s gone up since then.

“That is the sole reason it was done by jobbing builders.”

It is hoped this project will keep rubbish from the spot once and for all.

Oxfordshire taxpayers have spent more than £1m trying to get rid of the 'superdump'.

In 2008 the county council spent £858,000 removing rubbish, then a further £280,000 clearing it two years later.

Most of the rubbish was collected at the entrance to the travellers’ site, controlled by the Vale of White Horse District Council but owned by Oxfordshire County Council.

Just last month, fears were expressed that efforts to clear up Redbridge Hollow would just shift the problem elsewhere.

Kennington parish council chairman Colin Charlett said: "It's just been spread around the area. Someone dumped a bath at the end of my road just a few days ago."

“There was a load of stuff dumped at the entrance to Kendall Copse nature reserve in those white, one-tonne bags that you get sand in. Then, two days later, someone had tipped all the rubbish out and stolen the bags.”